‘Customers are coming to us crying’: staff mourn as Wilko exits high street

Wilko staff Myesha Maynard (right) and Garisha console each other on their last shift at the retailer’s Wembley High Road branch. Photograph: Andy Hall/The Observer

There was a mournful, empty feeling in the Wembley High Road branch of Wilko that closed its doors for the last time on Thursday. It was one of 68 stores that the hardware and homeware retailer shut last week, with the final 37 of what was until last month a 400-strong empire closing on Sunday.

With prices cut throughout the day, from 40% to 90% reductions, by 3pm the Wembley shop looked like a homage to a Soviet-era supermarket, the shelves all but bare, save for a few cans of hedgehog feed going at the bargain rate of 13p – Wilko also sells pet food, even if hedgehogs aren’t usually pets.